Chris Smith, owner of La Viva Cantina, left, and Jeff LaCoke, Ault Elementary School principal, center, hold commemorative Adopt-a-School certificates as the campus and community partner announced on Aug. 23 that they officially entered into an adoption partnership. They were joined by Dawn Tryon, director of community engagement, right.

Aug. 30, 2023—Representatives from La Viva Cantina visited the staff at Ault Elementary School on Aug. 23 to officially announce their Adopt-a-School partnership with the campus.

CFISD’s Adopt-a-School program pairs schools with community organizations and business partners to utilize resources of the community to strengthen and enrich the quality of education for students.

Chris Smith, owner of La Viva Cantina, has made it a goal for his business to be involved in the community and partnering with Ault was a good way of fulfilling that goal.

“One thing that’s very important to us at La Viva is being involved in the community,” Smith said. “It’s easy to be involved when things are going well, but we want to be involved no matter what’s going on. I was a history major in college and even taught in the classroom for a few years. I ended up going into the restaurant business because it was so much easier! My hat goes off to all the teachers for what they do for kids and the community. This partnership is just a drop in the bucket compared to what educators do day in and day out and we’re so fortunate to be in this partnership.”

Jeff LaCoke, Ault Elementary School principal, left, assists Chris Smith, owner of La Viva Cantina, right, in signing an Adopt-a-School partnership agreement after the community partner announced its official partnership with Ault Elementary School on Aug. 23.

Jeff LaCoke, Ault principal, expressed his thanks to La Viva Cantina for committing to help support the campus.

“Ault Elementary School is so excited about developing a partnership with La Viva Cantina,” LaCoke said. “To have such incredible support from a locally owned business is a true blessing to our students, staff and community. I have no doubt that our school community will benefit greatly from this adoption. It means so much to us to have this opportunity. We look forward to working with La Viva to have a powerful and positive impact on the students of Ault. It’s a great day to be an All-Star!”

For more information on the Adopt-a-School program, contact Dawn Tryon, director of community engagement, at 281-894-3950 or dawn.tryon@cfisd.net.